Sterling K. Brown is worried about dropping the f-bomb on 'SNL'

Sterling K. Brown is getting ready to host Saturday Night Live for the first time on March 10. (Photo: Maarten de Boer/NBCUniversal)

In Sterling K. Brown’s pretty adorable announcement that he’s hosting Saturday Night Live on March 10, he called the gig a “dream come true.” Now, as the date draws near, it’s becoming a reality — a reality in which anything could happen, including potentially an accidental f-bomb.

The This Is Us star was in Harlem on Tuesday to open a Youth Opportunity Hub specializing in the arts, a collaboration between Clorox and the nonprofit Thrive Collective, when we brought up his big gig. And while he couldn’t think of any major mishaps he’s had before during a live performance — save for “maybe splitting my pants onstage” once — he tells Yahoo Entertainment, “I was saying that I hope I don’t drop any f-bombs on SNL. A lot of people do. Kristen Stewart did. Sam Rockwell just dropped one [in January]. I’m trying not to join that pantheon of f-bomb-droppers, but we’ll see.”

While curse words are out, what he does hope for is laughs — not just from viewers but from the cast. “I want to make the cast break,” he says with a wink. “Put that on record. If I can get anyone to break while we are filming, then I have achieved my goal.”

This is truly a dream come true. I’ve watched @nbcsnl since I was a baby. To finally get to host is one of the more surreal moments of my life, but it’s gonna be awesome. #SKBSNLpic.twitter.com/uSPyxQQ3p2

While in New York City meeting with children at the opening of the arts and mentoring center, he contemplated, as our suggestion, popping by Studio 8H, where Charles Barkley is already prepping for his hosting spot this Saturday. “Maybe I can swing by and say hi,” he says. “Charles is a nice guy, and I’d just like to see how it goes first-hand because I think it’s going to be baptism by fire. I’m just going to jump in and be as game as I can. I’m excited. It’s one of the more exciting opportunities I’ve had.”

Between This Is Us and that little film you may have heard of, Black Panther, he’s better known for his dramatic roles recently, but he also has experience in comedy, including a guest spot on Brooklyn Nine-Nine. “I shot an episode, but it won’t be out until after SNL. I feel pretty good about it, hopefully it comes out as well as I think it did.” Some of his other previous comedy experience includes 2011’s Our Idiot Brother, with Paul Rudd (“I had a lot of fun on that”), and a dark comedy for FX called Starved in 2005.

“It was about people with eating disorders in New York City,” he recalls. “I played a bulimic New York City cop who would pull over bicycle delivery people and steal their food. Then I would binge on it and use my baton and hit myself in the solar plexus to purge. I don’t know why it didn’t last. It was such a wonderful premise for a show,” he laughs. “It was darkly disturbing, but also very funny.”

As for This Is Us, which is all you really clicked on this story to hear about (admit it!), we asked him to tell us everything he knows about “Future Randall,” since conspiracy theories have been flooding social media.

“He’s alive,” he says. “Thank God. He’s alive in the future, in his mid- to late 50s. I think we decided he’s roughly 56 at the time we saw him during the Super Bowl episode. His daughter is a social worker, which is a really cool development, seeing her history with Deja. And I know a little bit more,” he teases, “but I can’t talk about it.”

Though he is amazed by the theories — including whether Future Randall was wearing a wedding ring — and interest in general. “There’s a picture on Instagram of Future Randall — I think I put it on Twitter too — and it’s taken in the hospital. So people are asking questions: Where’s Beth? Please don’t tell me that Beth died. But sometimes a picture is just a picture.”